Different state-of-the-art procedures and ultraviolet curing inks are known for digital printing. Specifically, this refers to inks based in monofunctional monomers.
Other digital inks can be for laser printers. These inks start out with toner or powdered ink and through an electrostatic charge from the printer transfer the ink using a laser beam.
Also known are inkjet inks that use nozzles to direct the ink using previously digitized information from the computer.
Computer to Plate printing inks are also known, consisting of a previously created computer file, which will make the electronic stamping on the plates.
In fact, the vast majority of inks known to date follow the same scheme:
A sublimatable pigment or mixture of pigments to which a soluble resin is added to be used as a medium.
Then, an organic solvent is introduced (water-based or pure), or a mixture of a water-based organic solvent and a pure one.
Finally, a resin is used as a thickening agent or as adhesive for the ink.
Also, it can be noted that resins can be identical and that they can include additives like ethyl alcohol or butanol, among others.
This outline is followed by the 1973 Spanish patent No. 413.791 from CIBA-GEIGY AG, consisting of a method to prepare printing inks for printing by transference through sublimation, where the advantage is in allowing the combination of concentrated preparations rich in pigments.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,383,274 describes an inkjet water-based printing ink in which the printing bleeding agent includes a fluorinated composition, specifically a perfluoroalkyl acid salt. This patent underlines that the advantages of these inks are: reduction of drying time and, specially, prevention of ink bleeding.